Suggested EV101 resources for newbie

S

Shannon Mollenhauer

New Member
I have been listening to the InsideEVs podcast for quite a while now and feel like I've learned plenty from the guys (especially Tom!). Got on the subject of EVs with a coworker this morning and was able to share a lot of what I've learned about who is a candidate for various classes and ranges of EV. Besides having her binge watch/listen to a lot of behind the scenes and "car talk" that happens on the podcast, can anyone suggest either some "intro to EVs" videos or articles I can point her to?

She and her husband fall in that category discussed so often by Kyle, Tom, et. al., of the typical American driver who just needs short range (under 100 miles but somewhat "rural") transportation into the nearby town and regional destinations. The kind of mass-market customer I've heard the VW ID.4 would be well suited for, like a competitor for RAV4, CR-V, Escape, etc. They're moving to a small town in Arkansas not far from larger cities like Hot Springs, so charging should be sufficient given that most of their juice will come from an outlet at home and don't plan to take massive Connor-esque road trips.

I'm starting to feel a little like an "EV-angelist" myself despite not yet owning one. I have reservations on both the Cybertruck and F-150 Lightning, so my first EV will likely be a truck. Leaning toward the Ford because it will likely get a snow plow and we're a Blue Oval family.

Links and sources of intro material appreciated!
 
Do you know the fully charged YouTube channel? They made an introduction series called Maddie goes electric. Very basic information but a good series. Here is a link to the first episode:
 
The thing about youtubes, while they're a great resource, it's actually much faster to read the same
material as text. Sometimes the auto-transcript Youtube generates helps, but that has no flow
markers or structure. Sometimes I prefer a nice PDF or blog article, or if I wind up grinding through
the video it's at some enhanced playback speed.

_H*
 
Yes, definitely. Those videos are really denen down though. I believe only 10-15 minutes each of the 4 or 5 of the series, and really good information.
 
You can check out stuff like this to give a resource that easily allows to compare all EV models at at glance:
https://evadoption.com/
https://insideevs.com/reviews/344001/compare-evs/

That way they can plan by range and MSRP easier.

It may also be productive to use the fuel.gov site to compare their existing car to any given EV model they like:
https://www.fueleconomy.gov/

As far as advice goes, don't just run through canned talking points. This is supposed to be a conversation, not a sales pitch. Plus, many canned talking points aren't really that correct either. (eg. maintenance costs - who cares how much simpler the drive train is if poor build quality on non-drive train components makes repairs expensive? Same with replacement tire costs)

Ask questions to help them build a driving profile:
  • Daily driving needs
  • Places they visit for weekend trips
  • Location where family lives for holidays
  • Realistic aspirational trips. (
  • Preferences for long distance trips - ex. do they prefer the fastest route or the scenic route?
  • expected frequency of longer distance trips - eg. number of times per year(s) they expect to drive X mile long trip
You may have already done this with them, based on what information you have provided, but it is still important for people to get a solid idea of what their driving profile is like.

Next, I would show them plug share so they can visually see what infrastructure is around certain routes they would take:
https://www.plugshare.com/

Then I would have them select a hypothetical EV model (or models) and look up the charge rates, Level 1, Level 2, and DC charging, are available for each model selected. It isn't useful to show average charging rates across all models because the number won't actually reflect what to expect with any given model. Plus, relative charge rates are a selling feature for some EVs over others.

Last thing I would do is have a series of different car review sites that you can pull up to see what any of them say about build quality and tire replacement costs. The last one may be too tedious for you to do though. I don't really know of a good way to look this information up either.

All in all, this shouldn't be a time consuming thing to go through.
 
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